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Advances in explosives analysis—part I: animal, chemical, ion, and mechanical methods

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Abstract

The number and capability of explosives detection and analysis methods have increased substantially since the publication of the Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry special issue devoted to Explosives Analysis (Moore and Goodpaster, Anal Bioanal Chem 395(2):245–246, 2009). Here we review and critically evaluate the latest (the past five years) important advances in explosives detection, with details of the improvements over previous methods, and suggest possible avenues towards further advances in, e.g., stand-off distance, detection limit, selectivity, and penetration through camouflage or packaging. The review consists of two parts. This part, Part I, reviews methods based on animals, chemicals (including colorimetry, molecularly imprinted polymers, electrochemistry, and immunochemistry), ions (both ion-mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry), and mechanical devices. Part II will review methods based on photons, from very energetic photons including X-rays and gamma rays down to the terahertz range, and neutrons.

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Abbreviations

AN:

Ammonium nitrate

ANTA:

3-Amino-5-nitro-1,2,4-triazole

DNB:

Dinitrobenzene (isomers 1,3-DNB and 1,4-DNB)

DNT:

Dinitrotoluene (isomers 2,4-DNT and 2,6-DNT)

FOX-7:

1,1-Diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (DADNE)

HME:

Homemade explosive

HMTD:

Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine

HMX:

Octagen; octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine

IED:

Improvised explosive device

Picric acid:

2,4,6-Trinitrophenol

NG:

Nitroglycerine; nitro; glyceryl trinitrate; RNG; trinitroglycerine

NTO:

Nitrotriazalone

PETN:

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate; 2,2-bis[(nitroxy)methyl]-1,3-propanediol, dinitrate

RDX:

Cyclonite; hexogen; hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine

Semtex:

Composition of PETN (or RDX and PETN) with heavy oils and rubbers

TATP:

Triacetone triperoxide

Tetryl:

Methyl-2,4,6-trinitrophenylnitramine

TNT:

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene; 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene

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Acknowledgements

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of this study by Eric Sanders.

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The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interest.

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  1. Shock and Detonation Physics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Kathryn E. Brown, Margo T. Greenfield, Shawn D. McGrane & David S. Moore

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  2. Margo T. Greenfield
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Brown, K.E., Greenfield, M.T., McGrane, S.D. et al. Advances in explosives analysis—part I: animal, chemical, ion, and mechanical methods. Anal Bioanal Chem 408, 35–47 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-9040-4

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